As our society continues to evolve and become more integrated with technology, demand for wireless information increases constantly. Mobile phones, pagers, personal communications devices, wearable computers, handheld and car mounted GPS devices, and wireless personal digital assistants (PDAs) are becoming commonplace. These devices provide users with customizable content and specific information while they are on the move. Of particular utility are positioning system devices which convey to a person their physical location at a point in time. The global positioning system (hereinafter GPS) allows persons to pinpoint their location at any point on the earth to within a few meters of precision. The backbone of the system is the NAVSTAR satellite constellation, comprised of 17 low orbit satellites that transmit synchronized signals, which among other things, are representative of time. Originally designated for military use in location and ordinance guidance systems, the system is now available for public and commercial use. Individuals can walk or drive around with handheld devices costing only a few hundred dollars and know exactly where they are going, record coordinate way points, view their position in the context of maps, and record routes traveled. This has become a standard feature in luxury automobiles allowing drivers and passengers to view, in real or semi-real time, their location superimposed on a road map. The devices work by reading triangulated signal information from three satellites to determine a precise location. The differences in arrival times of the time-synchronized signals allow the device to calculate its position. The problem with GPS is that a separate receiver is needed to receive the satellites' signals and that the signal itself is very weak. Thus, any overhead cover, such as trees, tunnels, overpasses, etc., can prevent the receiver from receiving its signal.
Cellular and wireless networks are also capable of delivering this kind of position information to their subscribers. Through triangulation, signal strength measurements, angle of incidence measurements, GPS over cellular, and combinations of these techniques, cellular networks can pinpoint the location of a driver to within reasonable levels of accuracy. Especially in densely populated areas, where there are many cellular towers within close proximity to one another, it is possible to determine, within tens of meters of accuracy, the location of a user of a cellular phone.
In 1998, the Federal Communications Commission (hereinafter FCC) mandated in its rules for commercial mobile radio service (hereinafter CMRS) providers that the providers upgrade their networks to facilitate emergency 911 or E911 service, requiring them not only to connect the calls to the appropriate operator and transmit the caller's phone number, but also to transmit position information on the origination point of the call. The Commission adopted E911 rules in accordance with an agreement between the wireless industry and state and local 911 officials to promote wireless technologies and transmissions that provide important information to enable the 911 Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) to promptly locate the 911 caller. The wireless E911 service was established to ensure that wireless phones automatically transmit the same vital data about a 911 caller's location as wire line phones. CMRS providers were expected to achieve transmission of the enhanced location information in two phases, with Phase I to begin Apr. 1, 1998. Accordingly, the E911 rules now provide that, for Phase I, carriers transmit a caller's Automatic Number Identification (ANI) and the location of the cell site or base station receiving a 911 call to the designated 911 PSAP beginning Apr. 1, 1998. These capabilities allow the PSAP attendant to call back if the 911 call is disconnected and to provide general location information to assist in the prompt dispatch of emergency personnel.
As for Phase II, carriers are to transmit more accurate Automatic Location Information (ALI) of a caller beginning Oct. 1, 2001, according to phased-in timetables for handset-based and network-based technologies. The specific requirements for Phase II state that covered carriers provide to the designated PSAP the location of a 911 call by longitude and latitude within a radius of no more than 125 meters in 67 percent of all cases, using Root Mean Square (RMS) methodology. The two prerequisites in the current rules for a carrier's obligation to implement either Phase I or Phase II are that: (1) the carrier has received a request for such service from a PSAP that has the capabilities of receiving and using the data, and (2) a mechanism for recovering the costs of the service is in place. The solution for the CMRS providers to Phase II can come from either the network or the handset; however, if the carriers choose, the handset-based solution for Phase II deployment, they are required to begin selling and activating Phase II-compliant handsets no later than Mar. 1, 2001, without regard to the PSAP-related prerequisites. In November of 1999, the FCC amended its cost recovery rule to modify the requirement that a mechanism for cost recovery be in place before a carrier is obligated to provide E911 services. The FCC affirmed the requirement that a formal mechanism be in place for PSAP cost recovery, but eliminated as a barrier to E911 implementation, any prerequisite that carrier's E911 costs be covered by a mechanism.
Successful implementation of E911 will establish 911 as a universal number so that a user of a wireless phone could simply dial 911 regardless of whether they are in their home network or not. This will require the wireless provider to transmit simultaneous to the call, position information on the user to the 911 operator so that emergency personnel can be dispatched to the location of the caller. Upgrading their networks to provide this service is a significant cost to both the wireless provider as well as the local government who employs the 911 operators and maintains the call receiving hardware. This has been a point of contention by the wireless service providers. They have been reluctant to adhere to mandates to provide E911 service without a cost recovery mechanism in place due to the fact that providing this service costs them additional money, reducing their profit margin, and does not generate any additional revenue. It would be desirable for the wireless providers to have a mechanism for generating a return on investment in the infrastructure required to provide E911 service. Such a mechanism would make compliance with the FCC Phase II mandate more attractive to CMRS providers and may provide a way for them to increase their profitability by expanding their commercial services to include location specific content.
Currently, there are three variants of technologies for determining the location of a network activated mobile phone. Broadly, these fall into the categories of network-implemented, handset-implemented, or hybrid. Network-based answers are usually based on a combination of systems called time of arrival (TOA), time difference of arrival (TDOA), and an amplitude difference based on angle of arrival (AD-AOA). Under TDOA, the time difference between a signal from a mobile phone arriving at three different base stations are measured, giving a calculation of the mobile's location. AD-AOA calculates the angle of a signal arriving at two base stations, again yielding a location, and the combination of these two technologies yields accuracy in the region of 100 meters. All methods are currently in the experimental stage, thus, a uniform standard which will operate across all proprietary CMRS networks has yet to be established.
As for handset-implemented solutions, GPS remains a viable solution and the most probable in the short term. This technology is well established and with the recent removal of the signal degradation, accuracy on the order of tens of meters can be achieved with a small GPS receiver. Handset-implemented solutions relying on GPS devices will require additional chips and software added to handsets so they can track the satellites upon which the GPS system relies. To improve accuracy and in-building coverage, the system uses a secondary signal from the network.
A third, hybrid system uses observed time difference or OTD, and is implemented both in the handset and in a network server based on uploaded measurements from handsets of the time of arrival of signals from at least three different base stations.
There has been recent discussion of potential cost recovery mechanisms that could extract commercial value from the expenditure associated with providing Phase II E911 service. These mechanisms are based on providing location specific marketing information to wireless subscribers to offset costs. An article in Internet Week, Sep. 18, 2000, by Teri Robinson, entitled, “Wireless Applications—Location is Everything—Wireless location services may prove that the first law of real estate is also true for the Net,” discusses some of these. The article states, “As location services evolve, it's conceivable that a user travelling down the New Jersey Turnpike would be hit with offers from fast food restaurants, outlets or anything else along his route that might want to lure him toward, for example, the offer of a 99 cent Big Mac two exits away. Location services also offer retailers an opportunity to dovetail e-commerce and brick-and-mortar strategies, using wireless technology to drive customers into physical stores. Barnes & Noble.com, for example supports Palm VII's auto-find feature, which helps users find the location of the three nearest Barnes & Noble stores. The response delivers information about store hours, telephone numbers, and locations, as well as special events such as book readings and signings.” The article also concedes that there are other existing location solutions, however, they are limited in their capability and fail to fully solve the problem. “Among the most tried and true location methods is the one that has travelers voluntarily enter the zip codes of their locations. It doesn't require any special equipment or investment, and it certainly allays privacy issues. However, the problem with this approach is its dependency on the user to provide vendors with the needed information on location. Even when the user is reliable, he may not be able to provide that information.
Another exemplary discussion of the cost recovery solutions is provided in Technology Review, September, 2000, authored by John Adam, entitled “Internet Everywhere.” The article admits that the value of wireless, handhelds will be greatly increased when the network can tell where they are. As an example, the article states “. . . the screen of a wireless device could continuously change as you walk down a street, tempting you with various offers. Your spouse's screen might differ from yours, even though you are near the same bookstore, restaurant or shopping center. When you pass a certain store, your To Do list stored on a network reminds you to pick up an item that has been spotted in the store's virtual database. Or maybe a local store wants to drum up business one Thursday morning. It offers a discount for the next two hours to all receptive people within a 1-mile radius. It is also conceivable to blend personal buddy lists with geographic location, so any networked friends passing within five blocks will know you are at the coffee shop, amenable to old fashioned face-to-face conversation.” The article, however, is directed towards possible future capabilities and features of commercial services that could be provided to network subscribers that utilize the same infrastructure facilitating Phase II E911, rather than disclosing any practical functional embodiments to perform these services. The article also fails to mention other possible uses of location specific content.
Still further, Bar et al (U.S. 2001/0044309) discloses a method and system for providing real-time location-based services whereby real time location information of cellular telephone users are distributed to various third party information subscribers. In one embodiment, Bar et al discloses information or advertisements being provided to the user based on a present location and/or the user's personal profile. In an alternative embodiment, a server can “push” information to the user by actively placing an automated phone call to the user upon entering the local area of a matching event. However, Bar et al limits the invention to one-way communication from the network to the user and fails to mention the user actively communicating with the network. Further, in the Bar et al system, a call is required to be made either by the user to the network or the network to the user in order for the user to interact with the network. The present disclosure is not limited in this manner.
Additionally, Alperovich et al (U.S. Pat. No. 6,119,014) discloses a system and method for displaying short messages depending upon location, priority, and user-defined indicators wherein when a subscriber sends short messages to another subscriber, the originating subscriber can specify the time of delivery of the message, including the time(s) to repeat delivery of the messages. In addition, the originating subscriber can specify the priority associated with the message or that the message is to be delivered only when the called subscriber is in a certain location. However, Alperovich et al does not allow users to post and receive messages to specific coordinate locations and requires the message to have a specific recipient.
Thus, there exists a clear need for a cost recovery mechanism for CMRS providers for upgrading their wireless networks to support E911 service as the costs associated with implementation are significant. Such a mechanism will speed up compliance with the FCC rules and help to ensure effective E911 service for wireless customers.